Final resting place

After I picked the kids up from school today, we made a visit to a nearby cemetery, mostly because I was looking for something to photograph, and I thought there might be some good shots there. Our walk through the graves certainly generated a lot of discussion and questions, some of which included:
- Can you have a pink grave?
- If I died, would you make my grave red?
- If I dug down, would I find the dead people?
- Can anyone watch the ceremony where people are put into the ground?
- What happens if it gets full?
- Could you just bury someone in your backyard and make a cross out of sticks for them?

As well as all the questions, we had tears when my son accidentally hit my daughter in the nose with a stick he was swinging wildly.
Note to self: don't bring kids along on next photo session

This shot has a lovely timeless quality - you could have taken it 100 years ago and it might have looked much the same. In answer to the questions: yes, if you like, not exactly, some people ask for a private service but they won't be around to stop you attending, the authorities extend the cemetery or plan a new one somewhere else, it's not a good idea because you might move house. My son died as a baby and I've had to answer lots of these questions as my daughters have grown up visiting the cemetery with me, often running happily amongst the stones. It's good to be able to have open discussion with your kids about difficult subjects.